


Trying Times

by BrokenB0t



Category: Undertale
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other, Racism, bone zone, get ready for some tears, learning to be human again
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-23 22:30:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6132199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenB0t/pseuds/BrokenB0t
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You, a homeless, dirtied, and slighlty self-confident human live your normal life pick pocketing unsuspecting strangers. Everything was alright until the monsters came from Mt.Ebott. How will you deal with such a massive influx of monsters? Who is that odd, smile wearing skeleton?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fresh Coffee, Fresh Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> Alright everyone, this is my first fanfiction u.u  
> Please go easy on me.

The sun slowly crept out from the horizon, bringing light to your eyes. You sat up from the cold ground and stretched your arms high as the sun grazed your skin. Wiping the sleep off your face rather harshly, you stood up and slowly walked out of the alleyway. 

Looking out from your current standpoint on the sidewalk, it was going to be a warm summer day. Barely any clouds sat at the edges of the sky, a warm breeze ran through the air, and the sun shone bright behind the hills. You were used to this, but it still made your heart race a bit looking out to the spacious and warm morning sky. 

Breathing in, you wrapped your long ragged cloak just a tad tighter around your body, feeling the bottom of it shift over your toes. Dusting yourself off, you started off to the gas station. You nervously felt around your pocket as you got closer, heart racing as you checked for currency. With a sigh of relief, you extracted a few papers and some coins. Tightening your grip around the currency, you stepped into the grocery store. Chatter among cashier and customer, people looking at things, and a TV playing the morning news parked in one corner by the coffee. Almost as if on instinct, you immediately went to the coffee dispensers. Taking the smallest cup they had, you used the hand pump to pour enough coffee to fill it to the brim. As you lidded it, you looked up to the television briefly.

"This just in, thousands of figures from nearby Mt.Ebott have been flushing into Layette City and it has just been discovered that they are in fact, monsters. Coming in unannounced, monster-kind has somehow freed themselves, and are now making way for Layette City. Coming in with the details, here's Cindy V-" You looked down at your steaming brew of coffee, then back up at the TV screen. Hundreds of figures poured endlessly out from the mountain, every single one following each another in a horrendously long line that trailed down the mountain. You roughly blinked a few times, not believing what you were seeing. For a moment, you questioned the people speaking on the news, but shook your head. You picked up your raw black coffee and went to the register. 

Everyone else had been watching too. Some of their reactions were shocked, some of them worried, and the rest angry. You slid the coffee cup onto the counter while some people spoke. 

"Oh god, there's so many."

"Layette is ruined."

"What's the government going to do?"

"More importantly what are we going to do?"

You heard them chatter while you paid for your coffee, nodding at some of the things people were saying. As the cashier handed back some change, you asked if you could stop by the bathroom real quick. They nodded and handed you a key, pointing you towards the direction of the washroom. You unlocked the door and turned on the light for the small bathroom . Setting your coffee onto the sinks corner flat surface, you slid onto the toilet and relieved yourself. After flushing, you got up and washed your hands, looking into the square and slightly grimy mirror.

Bags under eyes, slightly matted long hair, dirty face, slightly yellowing teeth, everything was in check. Rinsing off your hands, you took a bit of water and rubbed it into your face. You grabbed a paper towel and blotted it over your face. You dried your hands, grabbed your coffee, turned off the light, and left the bathroom. Returning the key to the cashier, you left the gas station, sipping your coffee softly. People still stared up at the TV in awe, while you left to start your day. You stepped onto the street and started heading downtown. While you walked, you sipped your black coffee, enjoying the rough and ground like flavor with each swig. Since you were running low on funds, you needed to do your...job? You shook off that thought, and took another drink of coffee. You were almost out, with only maybe one or two drinks left. You sighed, looking back up onto the street. 

You squinted. 

You raised a brow.

You blinked multiple times. 

Whatever was walking on the street, headed straight towards you, was not, will never be, could not, be human. 

Were they monsters?

There were a few tall ones, and a few short ones, all sticking together in a little group. They looked around filled with childish glee, excited to see the world from above ground. You could tell that all of these things were monsters, except for one thing. Sticking out like a sore thumb, a human held the hand of an atrocious goat monster, looking up to it with a cheerful hope filled smile. 

They had come into close proximity with you, and you kept your head down. Some of them looked at you and smiled, nervously or not, others just kept walking. They continued their conversation, something about living places, people and moving. You were glad to have kept your distance as you kept walking. You had a bad taste in your mouth, and you washed it away with one large swig of coffee.

You hated monsters.

Just the look of them and how they held themselves made you feel horribly ill. You felt repulsed by their taste in fashion, the way they talked, their actions, everything. You despised their every being. The people who were worrying were right, monster's just couldn't fit into human society. You told yourself this while grumbling, still walking on the street. While you had been distracting yourself, you roughly hit into something. You fell flat onto your rear, and you winced as it began throbbing slightly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." You said, feeling a bit nervous from the accidental contact. You pulled the hood of your cloak back slightly, getting a better look at the person you bumped into.

It wasn't a person.

It was a skeleton, wearing human clothes, and a horrible smug shit-eating grin.

"nah, my bad." He said, holding out a hand. "i wasn't looking where i was going." You looked at the outstretched...hand.... and back to the eyes of the smiling skeleton. You shook your head and stood up on your own. The human clothes wearing bag of bones looked up at you, raising a brow slightly at your stone cold face. 

"I'm fine." You said, shifting around the skeleton and lightly jogging away from him. He raised a brow as you anxiously walked away. Looking back, you saw him shrug and start walking away too. You sighed in relief, knowing that you would be able to keep your distance with the monster. 

Slowing down, you looked out into the plaza filled with bustling people. You looked around, carefully surveying the people around you. You specifically spotted out the people on their electronic devices, distracted from the rest of the world around them. Nodding to yourself, you targeted a middle-aged man who was slowly walking down the street with headphones.

Time to get to work. You thought to yourself, and as if you were a normal distracted human, you set your course to crash directly into his. You kept a plain face, looking up and around at your surroundings as if you were in fact distracted. The middle-aged man didn't have a clue, and just as the two of you nearly crashed into each other, you dashed a hand into his pocket and yanked out the pocket change. 

"Oh my god! Sir, I'm so sorry!" You said, with extra change in your pocket. The man took off his headphones and smiled gently.

"It's alright, no harm done." He waved it off, not having a clue of what happened. You changed your pace back to normal and continued walking down the street. You could hear the people around you having conversations with each other as you looked around. Some of them talking about personal things, shopping things, and the monster influx. While you searched for another target you caught ear of something rather interesting.

"You know that one group of people?"

"Oh, you mean H-"

The people chatting had gotten too far for you to hear anything, but you already new what they were talking about. 

An anti-monster group that had been around for a while had been preaching out about how any day now the monsters could come out from Mt.Ebott and you would all perish under their absolute horribleness. You hadn't ever taken interest in it, it was like that other group of people who hated a certain color of people that eventually died out. You didn't need to be in a group to hate monsters, so why join? Plus you had nearly everything that you needed to live, so it was all a-ok. 

You went on until the afternoon pick pocketing complete strangers. Your pockets were laden with a good bit of coins, and a small hand full of papers. This amount of currency was going to last you at least a week, so you didn't need to worry about going hungry for a while. Your stomach ached and cried, complaining about how hungry it was with a few growls. You wondered what you were going to have to eat today. You agreed on a cheap sandwich from a grocery store deli. 

Stepping into the store, you were welcomed with the familiar scent of food cooking, floor cleaner, and produce. You walked in, expecting your normal run of the mill people, and there they were. The majority of them were dressed in clothes that were far better than yours, but you did not care. You had gotten used to living in torn and heavily worn clothing. Of course it was going to be noticeable that you couldn't afford good clothes. You shrugged off any slight form of embarrassment and kept walking towards the deli.

There they are again.

Those...things.....

The same monsters you had seen early in the morning were browsing through the bread, which stood right by the deli. Even worse, that shit-eating grin skeleton stood along with the group, making you slightly nervous. Your hand balled into a fist as you fought your aggravation, and you went to a refrigerated container full of a variety of sandwiches. You picked up one, carefully looking over the label. Your mind calmed down a bit, distracted by the sandwiches. You took one of the turkey breast sandwiches, and turned yourself to the nearest register. Yet again, you bumped into something and fell flat onto you rear.

"OH MY, PLEASE FORGIVE ME." It yelled into your ears. You pulled back your hoodie again, looking up to see a rather tall skeleton wearing a weird...garb or something. He irked you immediately, a sick feeling coiling up in your stomach. "THIS IS MY FIRST GROCERY STORE AND I ER- HUMAN?" The tall skeleton spoke as you quickly got up and speed walked away. You felt sweat roll down your temple, and felt ill. Monsters were rough, rowdy, and horribly annoying. You payed for your sandwich at the register and left the grocery store, not even bothering to sit at one of the in store tables.

You walked and ate, knowing that it would be dusk by the time you reached back home. Balling up the wrapper of the sandwich, you tossed it into a trash bin. Still walking, you felt the sudden urge to feed one of your not so pleasant habits. Reaching into one of your cloaks pockets, you extracted a dented package of cigarettes and a lighter. Noticing that you were sadly running low on cigarettes, you lit one up for yourself and put away the pack and lighter. You took a long, stress-relieving drag, and exhaled obnoxiously, which felt good.

It had been a horribly long, frustrating day. While it was good that you gained some extra currency to last a good week or so, those monsters had soiled your day. The way they had just taken the focus of your day frustrated you. How nervous they made you as you walked along side them at the sidewalk infuriated you. The oddness of the different monsters confused you. Why couldn't they just be simpler and prettier like humans were? You shook your head, taking another drag from your cigarette. You noticed you had reached halfway into your cigarette, and put it out. Putting it back into the packet in your pocket, you realized you had nearly reached your sleeping spot. Your pace picked up slightly, tired feet walking in dilapidated shoes.

You peered around the corner, looking into the alleyway. It was your average alley, dumpsters, brick walls, cardboard in a few spots, all that jazz. You moved onto your recognizable spot- a small cardboard patch next to a dumpster-, and snuggled yourself into it. You lie on your back, looking up into the now appearing stars.

Monsters didn't deserve to look up at this sky, nor did they deserve to go to your people's grocery stores, or walk on their sidewalks. 

You closed your eyes, and set yourself into a cold sleep.


	2. Just a Signature Away

You had woken up, but kept your eyes closed for a moment before you finally got up. You thought for a moment about the events that had happened yesterday, and sighed while opening your eyes. There wasn't as much light coming out from the sky as yesterday, so you suspected that clouds were hanging overhead. You were correct, several nimbuses patched up the once empty blue abyss above you. It was a bit cooler, but nothing your cloak wouldn't protect you from.

You sat up, the different things in your cloak moving up with you. A slip of paper fell off your body, sliding to the ground in a sub-dramatic twirl. You held it up close enough to read, looking over each word.

"Humanity deserves a fighting chance. Join the HJMP today and get free board+food in return for work completed under our organization". You read from the paper out loud. You could see an address at the bottom of the page, and decided to make a stop there to find out more. It intrigued you that the HJMP had been able to get flyers out for their group so suddenly. Eh, they probably planned for something like this to happen, it's to be expected. You folded the paper and tucked it away into your pocket, and accidentally bumped your knuckle on another paper like surface on your way into your pocket. Pulling out the thing you bumped your hand on, you looked down at it in slight awe. 

It was a slightly creased image of a dog. You quickly recollected the memories of the animal and immediately shut your eyes. You felt a horrible ache in your heart and couldn't stand to look at it, so you tucked it back into your pocket. Shaking the memories out of your head, you pulled out your cigarette pack and lighter. You stood up and lit the half-puffed cigarette and started walking out. 

You swept your slightly knotted hair behind your head to see better, and was glad to see that there were barely any monsters around town today. Other than an extremely bizarre plane and crying bug thing, you were alright. The monsters wandered about, looking at things and participating in civilian like things. They acted almost like normal people, but to you they were strange and out of place. The monster things simply didn't fit in with your people. You continued walking, taking a drag on your cigarette.

You made it to the downtown plaza, people swarming about to get to their targeted places. You moseyed through, occasionally getting looks from people because of your taste in attire. Sticking to your plans, you crossed the street and joined with the sidewalk that would lead you to the HJMP headquarters. You saw a large crowd clustering up by the HJMP building, You heard their angry and confused cries, and it was obvious they wanted answers,

A Man dressed in a white t-shirt stood up and out of the crowd. He appeared to be around his late twenties to his early thirties judging by the minor muscle definition visible from where you were. Everyone immediately quieted down in anticipation of his words. He most likely was standing on some sort of table, but his voice projected out and through the ears of everyone around the block.

"People of Layette City!" He shouted out. "As we all know, monster-kind has landed itself into our borders, and has invaded our properties!" You could hear his voice echoing off the walls, everyone was nearly silent. "I understand that we are all frustrated, but please keep calm as my group and I, the HJMP, have come up with a plan to eradicate the monsters from our once peaceful city!" He continued rambling on about how humanity needed to stand up and fight against this horrific change. You took interest in a few of his words, but quickly felt an odd presence, and turned away from the crowd. "We have multiple booths set-up all throughout the city! Feel free to visit them and sign yourself up for the HJMP! We will supply food and board to those who request it!" You heard the man say as you continued walking away. You could almost feel the fact that a pair of eyes were watching you, but you just couldn't tell from where. You saw a nearby bakery, and chose to slip in there for a bit.

You were surprised when the door didn't budge. Was this cafe always shut down? You looked over the door, and spotted a sign plastered to the window.

"Soon to be: Muffet's Bakery. Stop by for some freshly baked goods!" You read from the paper. Reading the note still hadn't taken your mind off the fact that you felt like you were being watched. Turning around, you walked at a faster pace towards the other side of the plaza. Almost immediately, you noticed that a booth had already been set up there by the HJMP. You decided to yourself that going to the booth would be a wise choice, and stepped in front of a man and a woman, both wearing white shirts labeled 'HJMP'. They noticed you and smiled pleasantly.

"Hello there! Have you come to fill out a membership form?" The woman asked you, stepping forward and leaning herself onto the booth. You nodded.

"Yes."You spoke.

"Great!" She said, and reached under the table and pulled out a white sheet of paper. "If you fill out this paper with your current information, we'll give you a call as soon as we confirm your membership." The woman said, clicking a pen and sliding it to you.

"Um, excuse me?" You questioned.

"Yes, what is it?"She replied, eyebrows raised slightly more than before.

"I don't have a cell phone." You said, smirking sheepishly. The woman placed a hand over her mouth.

"Oh...OH!" She said, and pulled out her own phone. "Well go ahead and fill that out right here, I'll just make a quick phone call in the mean time." The woman patted the paper gently, then returned to her cellular device. You looked down onto the paper, and began filling it out.

Name

Age

Current address

Reason to join the HJMP

email

phone

signature X_____________________

It was a rather simple sheet. You filled out the first four, making sure to include "In an alleyway" under the current address, wrote 'n/a' to the last two, and swiped your pen about to create your signature. You even did that little twist at the end you always liked to do. You liked the simplicity of the sheet, placing the pen down and looking back up to the woman. She wore a blonde bun, and many little freckles all around her cheeks. The woman was nodding and smiling on the phone, answering here and there, until finally, she was able to put the phone down. She looked at you and politely spoke.

"All filled out?"

"Yes."

"Well then I'll take that."The woman held out her hand as you placed the sheet into it. She briefly looked over it, then looked back to you. "Welcome to the HJMP, _________". You blinked in surprise, looking up to the woman slightly confused.

"Just like that?" You questioned.

"Yup, just like that." She said, tucking the sheet into a folder. "I made a phone call and got you a room at one of our shelters. No more sleeping in a box." The woman smiled, pulling out yet another slip of paper. She handed it to you. "Here's the address of the building with your room number. Talk to Abby at the front desk, she'll get you all set up at your new home." She said with her pleasant smile. You understood that she probably recognized you were homeless them moment you walked up to her, but you didn't expect her to just suddenly plant you into some shelter. You didn't expect to not have to sleep on the cold hard ground tonight. Shaking your head, you looked up to the woman and smiled back.

"Thank you very much ma'am." You said, and turned away. You knew the address, and properly guided yourself to where you knew it was. Inside you felt......empty. You didn't know just how to feel about what had just happened. You felt like you were being watched, so you did something in the hopes of shaking them off. You knew that the grand consequence would be joining the HJMP, but you knew you would be joining them in the end anyway. You were so confused, you were going to need a moment to collect yourself later. You viewed a neon blue building that stretched out for a good eighty feet out. It had a large 'HJMP' sign plastered at the top of its three story roof. You knew this was the place.

Stepping in, you took in the environment. Brown carpet, white ceiling. Wood counter, old lady. 

"Abby?" You asked. The old woman looked up from her computer, and made eye contact with you. 

"That's me. You must be _________. Fran told me about your situation." Abby said, stacking some papers and setting them away. She stood up, purple penny coat swishing about with her long pink dress. She adjusted her glasses and stood in front of you. Abby was shorter than you, older than you, and better dressed than you. "What's the number on your paper?" She asked.

"217." You replied, glancing back to the number on the paper.

"Second floor then. Follow me." Abby said, turning around and walking towards the elevator not too far from the counter. You both entered the elevator, and Abby pressed the '2' button. "You can use as much hot water as you need, eat as much as you have to, and sleep as much as you want." Abby said. "Of course, you can't sleep as much when you work, but we'll make sure you get your rest." The doors opened and she walked out. You followed her, entering the right hallway. "Floor 2 washes their clothes on Wednesday and Saturday. You leave your dirty clothes in the blue hamper, and they'll come back clean by the end of the night." Abby informed with a positive attitude. She stopped at a door labeled '217'. You marveled at the door, it's dark brown swirls determining your home. 

Your home.

"Come on in! I have a few more things for you." Abby called you. You entered through the door and looked out.

The bathroom was parked to your right, very close to your entry-way door. Across the bathroom door was a closet door, with a sturdy wooden pole to hang things on. Looking towards the windows, you saw the kitchen parked to the left parallel to the closet, and across from the kitchen was your bed.

Your bed.

"Here are your keys, __________." Abby handed you four keys. "The silver ones are for your home, and the brass ones are for your mailbox in lobby labeled 217." She said. "Need anything?" The old woman asked as she stood by your door. You shook your head.  
"No, thank you for everything, Abby." You said, smiling. Abby grinned, and closed the door as she left. You sat on the bed, looking out from the windows. It was around dinner time, but your stomach stood still.  
You looked down at your hands, gloved and caked with dirt and bodily grime. You looked around the room, pristine and clean, properly prepared for a human and all. You had a kitchen, a bathroom, a shower, an oven, a closet, a bed, and a home. You had a home. Your home. This was your home, and you were home. 

You weren't homeless anymore. 

You were going to sleep under blankets.

You were finally going to have clean clothes. 

You could finally eat fresh food. 

Eyes widening, you felt hot air bite at your eyes. Almost immediately, you sobbed obnoxiously, curling into yourself as you landed onto the bed. Tears continuously blinked away from your eyes as you felt a massive amount of relief. You held your head in your hands and whimpered as tears still poured out. You lie there on your bed, crying from the sheer relief of everything. You felt elated, and closed your eyes tight as you sniffled. 

You fell asleep in a little puddle of happy tears. Not a single thought in your head, other than one thing. 

"I'm home."


End file.
